Master Writing Class with Alka Joshi

THIS SESSION IS ONLINE

Selling Your Manuscript

The more you research literary agencies and publishers, the more confusing it gets. How do you break into this mysterious world? Are there secrets you’re not privy to? What exactly is a book editor and how can they help get your book into the right hands? Now’s your chance to learn from a NYT bestselling author. Alka Joshi, whose debut novel The Henna Artist was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick, leads this 90-minute class to explain the intricacies of the agency and book publishing industries, including the pros and cons of traditional vs. self-publishing.

Joining Joshi as guest instructors are Margaret Sutherland Brown, Literary Agent, Folio Literary New York, and Heather Lazare, Book Editor, and Publishing Consultant.

This is the second in a series of three classes Joshi will present - October 10 (How to Write a Bestseller) and November 10 (Beyond the Manuscript).

Host and guest instructors profiles:

Alka Joshi was Born in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India, and has lived in the U.S. since the age of nine. She graduated from Stanford University and worked in the fields of advertising and PR before starting her own marketing consultancy. In 2011, she obtained her MFA in Creative Writing from the California College of Arts in San Francisco, California. Alka is currently finishing the sequel and starting on the third book in the trilogy. She’s also serving as Executive Producer on the screen adaption of The Henna Artist.

Margaret Sutherland Brown represents literary and upmarket commercial fiction, psychological thrillers, select young adult fiction, and narrative non-fiction for Folio Literary in New York. Previously, she was an agent at Emma Sweeney Agency, LLC, and transitioned to represent many of ESA's clients at Folio. Before becoming an agent, she worked as an editor for a wide range of fiction and non-fiction at St. Martin’s Press. Her clients have won the American Book Award, been finalists for the National Book Award and the PEN/ Hemingway Award, and been awarded Guggenheim Fellowships. 

Heather Lazare is an independent editorial and publishing consultant who specializes in editing adult fiction, including historical fiction, women’s fiction, literary fiction, contemporary romance, and thrillers. She worked at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency and both Random House and Simon & Schuster before starting her own business in 2013. She is the director and founder of the Northern California Writers’ Retreat, a fiction retreat in the Santa Cruz Mountains.